


Publicity Scare

by SalamanderGoo



Category: Game Grumps, Game Grumps the Musical
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brian gets arrested for Ninja Brian’s crimes, Gen, Lawyers, if you can call it that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 05:49:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16278947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalamanderGoo/pseuds/SalamanderGoo
Summary: An alternate take on the ending of “Game Grumps the Musical”.  What if Brian did get accused of committing the murders Ninja Brian did while on their side of the timespace rip?Most of the dialogue is ripped from Game Grumps the Musical, though I did change some of it and quite a bit was added.





	Publicity Scare

“When Brian’s stupid face shows up on LA’s Most Wanted, we’re in for a publicity scare.”

“We need focus, we need time! Or else he’s locked up for a third degree crime!”

“That would be pretty funny...”

“Ross, he’d get the chair!”

It hit Brian in that moment just how vital this mission was. If they didn’t catch NSP, he’d be locked up for life, most likely put to death.

Brian took a deep breath, steeling himself as Ross and Holly gave instructions. As Holly looked at him, he nodded. “I’ll find the figures, formulate...”

Barry squeezed his shoulder. “We’ll take turns on the headphone set!”

After a few more minutes of deliberation, they dispersed to get to work. Brian grabbed a calculator and a notebook, sitting at a desk as he started lining up the variables he knew, trying to figure out the ones he didn’t. 

Barry joined him after a while, headphones on and his phone with the speaker turned up next to him. Ross and Suzy had gone out to find NSP, hoping to get them before they did too much damage. “...Where should we look until our next lead?”

He’d only been half paying attention up to that point. Nervousness and frustration was seeping into his voice now. “Bagel shops. Strip clubs. Cutlery stores. Figure it out.”

Barry looked up. “You seem... tense.”

“Yeah, because my best friend is trapped in some time travel alternate dimension shit that shouldn’t be possible based on our modern understanding of physics. Oh, and the fact that my doppelgänger is running wild and could kill anyone at a moment’s notice, which could lead to me getting the death penalty.”

“...fair enough.”

The day passed too quickly with too little progress, and it was getting to the point that he was falling asleep over his notebook. His hand was cramping up from the almost 40 pages of equations too. He tapped keys on his laptop for a minute, getting all their intel copied and the connection secure so he could keep an eye on it. As the others were arguing over where they’d sleep, he stood up. “All due respect, I’d rather head home. I’ll monitor the transitional hypochronwavelengths remotely and will have more info in the morning.”

He headed out, leaning against the front wall and closing his eyes, the cool night air breezing by. “I just hope we can get this figured out...”

He didn’t sleep much that night.

He’d ended up setting his laptop up on his kitchen table and pacing most of the night, falling asleep at the table for almost an hour around 4. By the time he woke up, he just gave in, deciding to head back.

He was in the office and pouring over his notes with a heavily sweetened mug of coffee next to him before the others started waking up. He had a generally pleasant conversation with Barry, who was eating cereal from a mug. He was pretty sure the conversation got weird at one point though...

Time rolled on, Barry trying to come up with ideas, though a lot were admittedly... crappy or impossible. Ross was standing at the head of the room, a whiteboard next to him with ‘PROBLEMS’ in big letters. He was ranting, which was understandable, but Brian only half paid attention, scrawling numbers in his notebook.

He looked up again, and Ross was in Holly’s arms, ‘Everything’ written down now. “Accurate,” he muttered under his breath.

He hunched over his desk, trying to figure out something. The answer was there. The answer was somewhere, it had to be. “There’s a million exits… one entrance. If the exit we need is the same as the entrance, it’s the most logical standpoint. But how do you calculate the right time, the right force?” He sighed, frustrated as he grabbed his calculator again, falling silent.

Ross (who should’ve been tracking) started pestering him, and right as he was about to snap, Suzy came in. “Okay, what has gotten into you all?”

Barry looked up, jolted from being half asleep. “Suzy!” He blinked and rubbed his eyes, watching as she grabbed her keys. “Where are you off to?”

She shot a glare at him, her eyes turning to Ross and Brian too. “I'm off to go get this shit done. There's no point in sitting around waiting for things to line up. You gotta find your sense of adventure! I'm gonna get out there and do my part to save all of our butts. Yeah. I'm hunting down NSP. You're welcome.”

Ross sighed, looking very tired. “Suze, wait…”

And then Suzy broke into song. Which… okay, that had happened several times over the last couple of days, even before Dan and Arin were pulled out of this dimension. It was weird, but Brian had been guilty of it too, so he couldn’t say much of anything. It had been happening particularly often with these shenanigans going down, though. If he really thought about it, random bursts of singing had been a thing as long as he could remember. It just felt more prevalent lately.

As her song finished, she turned on her heel and left, door slamming behind her. Holly ran through the room after Suzy, looking amped up. “Right behind you!”

“Well then.” Brian ran a hand through his hair, looking over at the door they’d disappeared through.

Barry stood up, stretching. “I’m going after them.”

“It looks like they can handle themselves…” Ross looked back at his computer, refreshing the page.

“I know. It’s gonna be awesome!” He grinned excitedly.

“You know, you should go ahead. Ross, you too.” Brian waved them off. He needed it to be quiet again, needed to focus.

“No… shouldn’t someone be on headset?” Ross frowned, but his eyes glanced over at the door.

Barry shook his head, running through an admittedly convenient explanation. And with that, it was just Brian at his desk, just surrounded by papers. He let out a long sigh, slowly standing up. He made himself another mug of coffee. He was so tired, on the level of an hour of sleep, on the level of his hand was cramping up, on the level of he’d been doing nothing but math for several hours, and on the level of the fact that he’d most likely be a felon.

“This sucks.”

A long half hour passed, head too loud as he tried to focus. The solution was there, so close, but just out of reach.

He began pacing, full of a buzzing, anxious energy. And then he broke into song, the only outlet he could possibly think of. Before it could go more than a verse, Suzy burst in. “Brian! Brian, we got him! We really got him!”

His eyes widened as he spun on his heel to face her. “You got both of them? Suzy, that’s unbelievable! That’s great!”

Holly came in after Suzy. “No, Ninja Brian is still out there running amuck.”

“A murderous muck.” Suzy grinned at her joke. “We did the best we could, though.”

Brian felt his heart sink, letting out a quiet sigh. “But Danny’s here?”

Ross came in, dragging Danny behind him. There was a lot of bickering before Brian finally just gave in, walking away to make himself another mug of coffee. He had his theories, he had a lot of equations. All he needed was a whole lot of caffeine and to test his ideas.

And he really wasn’t holding back on the caffeine part.

By the time he was on his seventh cup of coffee, he couldn’t sit still or shut up, muttering about his theories and the equations. “Fuck, okay, Danny, have you seen a paper?”

Danny blinked at him. “Um… you have a bunch on your desk? And I think Barry has a bunch on his?”

“I left it in there.” He let out a shaky breath, running a hand through his hair as he headed over to Barry’s office, rifling through the papers. He went on a rambly, caffeine-fueled tangent to Dan and Arin, Barry watching with a fairly confused expression.

“...We love you Brian.”

Brian absently patted Barry’s head as he found his paper. “Reciprocated to an extent.”

He sat back at his desk, leg bouncing insanely fast. He was so close to an answer. And then he got it. As he found it, there was a yell from Barry’s office. “Soft and non-threatening Brian! We have a lead!”

“I resent that.” Brian looked up as Barry and Danny hurried over to his desk. “I have a time frame. What do you have?”

And then their plan was set into motion, and a wild chase through the city later, they had a murderous ninja on their hands. With Danny aiding them, they got Ninja Brian back to the office with minor cuts and bruises.

“Our window’s getting smaller,” Brian muttered, looking at his watch anxiously.

“I’m driving as fast as I can, Brian. We don’t need you getting arrested.” Suzy shot a glance at him.

“Yeah, yeah.” Brian crossed his arms with a long sigh.

The next half hour, despite everything the last two days had been, were the weirdest of Brian’s life. He ripped a hole in spacetime with a bunch of pigeons, helped fight a giant plant, and moved… bodies. As they finally got settled back in the office, Brian half collapsed at his desk, the coffee wearing off and leaving him very tired.

“Not gonna wash all that blood off?” Dan ruffled Brian’s hair gently.

“In a minute.” Brian sighed. “I’m just glad to have you back. I think I need a break from songwriting. For a few days at least.”

“God, I’m so with you there. And… thanks. If it weren’t for you… we’d still be trapped. I mean, could you imagine-”

Dan was cut off by sirens outside. Brian’s eyes widened. “This is… incriminating.” He took a deep breath as the sirens stopped outside. “All my notes are on the desk, you’ve all been with me all day, and there’s footage in the security cameras. I have a solid alibi, and they can’t hold me too long. I think.”

“Brian, maybe it’s not that…” Suzy frowned, but then the door was shoved open and several police officers came in, holding their guns.

“Hands in the air!” Brian gulped as he raised his hands up before he was put in handcuffs. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you…”

The officer’s voice faded away as Brian was led away to a cop car outside. Everyone had fallen silent, speechless. Holly hugged the pigeon in her arms, scared. “...what do we do?”

“We wait.” Arin sat down, letting out an anxious sigh.

About two hours passed, wearing into the evening. Then Barry’s phone rang. He answered it, letting out a gasp. “Brian?” He quickly put it on speakerphone.

“Hey guys… it’s not looking great for me right now.”

“Brian, what’s going on?”

“I’m being prosecuted for three counts of murder. My fingerprints…” He paused. “Well, not my fingerprints. Prints that match mine were found on the murder weapon, and facial recognition matched me to the actual killer. I still have my alibi, and you guys will probably be questioned at some point. This is the only call I get though…” He sighed tiredly. “We’ll figure it out. I’ve asked for an attorney, so hopefully it helps.”

“Well, we’re gonna fight for you, okay?”

“Okay. I-”

“Time’s up, Wecht.” A guard approached Brian.

“...I love you guys and I hope to see you soon.” Brian was led to a holding cell, being watched very closely. The door was locked behind him, and he slid to the floor, head in his hands. “...I didn’t do it.” It was said quietly, mainly to himself.

The process felt like it was taking forever. He got an attorney, though, and his case was built up. After a month, he was sitting in court to defend himself. And he was terrified as the judge called the court to order. He tried to be as calm as possible, but his leg was bouncing as he sat down.

The trial went on for several hours. And more than once, Brian found himself wondering how he’d gone from being a hero and bringing Dan and Arin home, to being on trial for murders he didn’t commit.

Finally, finally, the jury was sent out to deliberate. Brian had been in a cell for over a month, and really wanted nothing more than to go home. He caught Barry’s eye at one point, and Barry flashed him a thumbs up. He ended up falling asleep with his head resting on his arms.

He woke up when the judge called the court to order, sitting up very straight as one of the jury members stood. The judge nodded. “Has the jury reached a verdict?”

The jury member nodded. “We have, your honor. We the jury have found Brian Wecht not guilty of murder due to his confirmed alibi at the time of the murders.”

Brian almost started crying, letting out a long sigh of relief. He was escorted out, where Dan was waiting for him. “...well?” Dan had an anxious look on his face.

“I’m free, Dan.”

Dan hugged him tightly, tears stinging his eyes. “Oh thank god… I knew you’re innocent but I was so scared…”

“I know… how bad is it online?”

“Well… it’s not great. But we’ll figure it out.”

Barry, Holly, and Ross came out of the courthouse, grinning. “Brian!” Ross tackled him in a hug. “What did we say? There’s no way they’d convict you!”

“Yeah, well… they came close.” He accepted hugs from Holly and Barry too.

Dan smiled softly. “Let’s head back to the office. The others are waiting there. I think celebratory pizza is in order.”

Brian held Dan back a moment as the other walked ahead. “Hey Dan?”

“Yeah?”

“If you ever get pulled into another rip in timespace again, I’m not helping.”

“Fair enough.”


End file.
